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Is Cyberspace Dangerous?

Two recent studies are among the first to examine the sexual habits of Internet users and demonstrate the potentially inimical effects of surfing the Web.

In the first study, researchers examined the Internet habits of 856 individuals requesting testing for HIV or sexually transmitted diseases at a city-run public health site. The majority were white (78 percent), heterosexual (65 percent), and aged 20 to 50 (84 percent). In interviews, almost 16 percent reported seeking sex partners on the Internet; of these, 65 percent reported having sex with a partner met initially on the Internet, and 39 percent of these reported 4 or more such partners. Those seeking sex on the Internet were significantly more likely to be male, to seek same-sex contact, and to have had more STDs, partners, and HIV-positive partners.

In the second study, an outbreak of 7 cases of syphilis was traced among visitors to a single Internet chat room. Because of the site visitors' privacy rights, public health officials developed an awareness campaign within the chat room and emailed notices to the screen names of possibly exposed partners.

Comment: Many questions raised about the confidentiality of the Internet are particularly urgent in public health: How does one notify individuals of their exposure to a highly contagious disease? How do medical personnel enter an environment into which they have not been invited? For psychiatrists, it is evident that we should explore the Internet habits of our patients, and this may become a standard part of the psychiatric evaluation.

— G Tucker

Published in Journal Watch Psychiatry September 19, 2000

Citation(s):

McFarlane M et al. The Internet as a newly emerging risk environment for sexually transmitted diseases. JAMA 2000 Jul 26 284 443-446.

Klausner JD et al. Tracing a syphilis outbreak through cyberspace. JAMA 2000 Jul 26 284 447-449.

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